The Racing Car Game by Peter McNamara

This is the only site that I know of that is related to the racing car game, and also the only one that I know of relating to the racing car programming project. The racing car game is a pen and paper game that me and my friends played in high school to stave off boredom during many of our classes. The object of the game is to be the first to drive your "car" around the track that was drawn on grid paper, with legal movements controlled by a simple but strict set of rules.

For those who already are at the point where they can understand and play the racing car game, then becoming part of the racing car programming project could be for you. This project involves creating a program of some description that enables the racing car game to be played on a computer. At the time or writing, this project has not been started, primarily due to my limited (or maybe more correctly, non-existant) programming abilities, so any progress at all would be welcomed.

What follows is a course in the rules of the racing car game for the unitiated.

1. The game is played from any number of players from 2 upwards, though practice has shown the 2-player game to be less interesting, with 3 believed to be the optimal number.

2. The playing area consists of a square grid, with the racing track drawn clearly on the surface. The area of the grid outside of the racing track is out of bounds. The object of the game is to be the first to drive your "car" around the track from start to finish. (The consensus is that 5mm graph paper is the optimal choice.)

3. Players take turns to make a move. Turn order is initially determined by a random process, and players must move strictly in the given order. Players may not pass.

4. A move consists of moving your car from grid point to grid point, indicated on the board by the drawing of a line from the start point to the end point of the turn, accompanied by a small perpendicular line to indicate the end of the move. In a turn, a player can have a maximum acceleration of 1 unit. Note that moves of zero length are legal, and are indicated by the drawing of a circle around the point stayed at.

5. Players start with an initial velocity of zero, and an initial position at any point on the start line. A player's position on the start line is chosen at the time that he makes his first move.

6. A player crashes if any of the following circumstances happen to him. In each case, the players velocity is reset to zero.

(i) if the line segment between the start and endpoints of a move does not lie entirely in the track area. In this case, the player resumes from the nearest grid point to the place where his car left the track.

(ii) if the player moves to a point already occupied by another player's car. A penalty of three missed turns is applied.

(iii) if another player's car moves to the point occupied by the player's car. A penalty of two missed turns is applied.

7. The final race position is determined according to the order that the players cross the finishing line. It does not matter if a player crashes after the finish line.

8. (nitros). At the start of the game, each player is given a finite number of nitros that can be used whenever desired. Using a nitro allows the limit on acceleration imposed in rule 4 to be breached. Each nitro used on a turn allows for one extra unit of acceleration, which can be used in either direction. On the track, each nitro used is represented by the drawing of a small square around the endpoint of the move.

9. (slicks). Some areas of the track may be shaded in, called slicks. A car may move over a slick in a turn with no effect, but is affected when the slick is landed on. When a slick is landed on, two turns are skipped and the player's velocity is reset to zero.

10. DEMOLITION DERBY VARIANT.

This variant is played on a track that is usually elliptical in shape. Instead of a race taking place, this variant is a free-for-all, with no guidelines on which direction one should move. The object of the game is to crash into other players. If you crash into another player you gain two points, while if someone crashes into you, you lose one point. Naturally, the winner is the one who ends up with the greatest number of points at the end. If only two players are participating, then it is a good idea to give both players two cars to work with, while disallowing two cars from the same person to crash. In this variant, a different rule for starting after a crash is used. No turns are missed by either player, but a crash is prohibited from occurring betweent the same players on the turn immediately after the crash occurs.

So there you have it. Play and enjoy!

last updated 29/01/03